THE LORD SPOKE (November 13)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Ezekiel 19-20

Confrontation. Something to be avoided, right? Wrong! We commonly think so and certainly there are many areas where the conventional wisdom is good advice. Sometimes we need to “roll with the punches” and sometimes we need to let some things roll off our back like water off a duck. But, more often than not, confrontation is the best policy.

Ezekiel was told specifically (Ezek. 20:4) to confront the Israelites and their detestable practices. In fact, can you imagine any of the prophets not being confrontational? That was just part of the job description! Okay, maybe Jonah failed at first, and Hosea may not have chosen the route set before him, and Daniel didn’t plan to take over such a position - but they all stood up to the issues of their day and that meant standing up to the ones causing the issues of their day.

● We need to confront sin, starting with our own. Ignoring a problem will never make it go away. There are levels of confrontation, to be sure, but it is always best to treat a matter when it is small. Letting a sin go will create a pattern that will soon become a habit. It’s easy to see this in child discipline but it works the same way in every age. We need to be tough on ourselves, examining our hearts daily, and confessing those sins which so easily beset us (Heb. 12:1; I Jn. 1:9). We also need to be tough on our believing family and friends. But it’s a tough-n-tender situation. We have a responsibility to our brother in Christ to help him. Is that a right or a responsibility? Good question! The answer is, yes. The best way to earn that responsibility is to be open about our own faults. We “bear one another’s burdens” by baring our own.

● We need to confront the sinner. Our greatest interest must be the Lord’s cause. Love requires that we confront without becoming confrontational. That’s certainly appropriate in the process of church discipline (Mat. 18:15-17). Rather than allowing a matter to fester and spread, we’re commanded to confront evil and the evil-doer.

● We need to confront the Devil. That’s just another way to explain how we are to resist him (Jas. 4:7; I Pet. 5:8). Rather than ceding ground, we are to take the initiative in establishing the forward positions. We may not always be able to determine the battle lines but we are supposed to be on the front line against the Devil. That’s called confrontation. Martin Luther said it so well:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

Psalms 115-116

The earth he has given to men. (Ps. 115:16)

Let all those who think that man is merely a part of nature, without ownership, or even clear rights to use it for his own needs and pleasure, take heed! Here and elsewhere in Scripture we’re told that God made the earth and then placed it under the domination and responsibility of man.

Note carefully that this privilege includes great responsibility. We are to be keepers of the earth, tenders of the garden, wise stewards of the bountiful gift of God. But the earth is for our using. It is appropriate to mine its natural resources, to consume its produce, and to eat its plant and animal products. God told Noah after the Flood, “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.” (Gen. 9:3). Vegetarianism, for other than medical need, is wrong and anti-God!

It is right to cut the trees to build houses, to move the dirt to create usable space, to hunt the elk and deer. But it is also right, yea required, to husband and replant the forests, to protect the land from erosion, and to maintain laws and quotas for hunting. With privilege comes great responsibility.

Of all people, Bible-believers should be the best environmentalists. Not the hug-a-tree kind, but solid, biblical environmentalists. We should clean up, shore up, build up, trim up, and spruce up the earth and elements around us. We should work harder than anyone to keep the air clean, the water pure, and nature natural.

God’s order of all things is secure. He did not leave things in a mess nor will they run down before the end of time. Resources will not be depleted, the earth won’t over-heat, and the over-all equilibrium of the elements will not be thrown out of kilter. He did a better job than that in setting up His creation. It may be necessary at times for Him to make small adjustments - a little tsunami here, a small earthquake there, an occasional world war - but His creation will function perfectly, just as He planned it.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:33-36